Temp control...for cold weather

[DasHos]

'Sup fellow brewers. I'm here in southern AZ. I have run out of places for my primaries inside my house where I can normally maintain pretty decent temps. I have some space in my "garage'. I say it that way because it's really just a room in my carport.

Anyway, the outside temps range from mid 60s to 70s during the day to about 40s or lower at night. My thought on maintaining temps is putting my primary inside of a 55 gallon trashcan filled with cool water.

My question is, will this water insulation stay the same temp during day and nighttime? I have no problem with rotating frozen water bottles...my main concern is I don't want it to get too cold. Any thoughts, concerns, or advice?

 

[BSBrewer83]

I know this doesn't answer your question but one way to avoid all of this is to buy a cheap freezer/fridge on craigslist and get a temp controller. I use this setup along with the ferm wrap to maintain exact temps in my chest freezer.

 

[brewguyver]

I know this doesn't answer your question but one way to avoid all of this is to buy a cheap freezer/fridge on craigslist and get a temp controller. I use this setup along with the ferm wrap to maintain exact temps in my chest freezer.

+1.

If that doesn't work, you could go "brewguyver" with a dual stage controller, fan, towel, aquarium heater, thermowell, and (optional) pond pump.

Assuming you have low humidity where you are in AZ, the towel gives you swamp cooler effect (don't fully submerge carboy, the fan accelerates, the aquarium heater heats the water, pond pump circulates for more even heating, and the thermowell is so you don't short out the controller probe.

You *could* do it without a controller, but it'll be tough to avoid those temp swings with out it.

Oh - one last thing - you need a nice, reliable GFCI.

 

[VonAle]

I use the water filled tub as mention. I live in Phoenix and right now the tub water sits at about 60 degrees untouched. So I use an aquarium heater to keep it a little warmer.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[JohnSand]

I don't use water, but Von is right. The water will settle around the day-night average. I ferment in the basement, in a cooler. Ice in the summer, warm water bottles in winter if needed. The cooler will muffle temp changes too.

 

[DasHos]

I use the water filled tub as mention. I live in Phoenix and right now the tub water sits at about 60 degrees untouched. So I use an aquarium heater to keep it a little warmer.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app

Sweet! That's kinda what I was thinking. I would go for the temp controlled fridge, but all my funds are going to a "luxury" cruise wedding. I could do an aquarium heater, though.